"Good morning," the little prince responded politely, although when he
turned around he saw nothing.

“早上好，”小王子彬彬有礼地回答。他转过身，却没看到什么人。

"I am right here," the voice said, "under the apple tree."

“我在这儿呢，苹果树底下，”这声音提醒他。

"Who are you?" asked the little prince, and added, "You are very pretty to
look at."

“你是谁?”小王子问道，“你长得真漂亮。”

"I am a fox," said the fox.

“我是一只狐狸，”狐狸回答道。

"Come and play with me," proposed the little prince. "I am so unhappy."

“和我一起玩吧，”小王子向狐狸建议，“我苦恼极了。”

"I cannot play with you," the fox said. "I am not tamed."

“我不能和你玩，”狐狸说，“我还没有被你驯养呢。”

"Ah! Please excuse me," said the little prince. But, after some thought, he
added: "What does that mean—'tame'?"

“啊!对不起，”小王子说道。但是他思索了一会儿，又说：“‘驯养’是什么意思?”

"You do not live here," said the fox. "What is it that you are looking
for?"

“你不是本地人，”狐狸说道，“你来这儿找寻什么呢?”

"I am looking for men," said the little prince. "What does that
mean—'tame'?"

“我正在找人，”小王子答道，“‘驯养’是什么意思?”

"Men," said the fox. "They have guns, and they hunt. It is very disturbing.
They also raise chickens. These are their only interests. Are you looking for
chickens?"

“人，”狐狸说道，“人有枪，他们会打猎。这可真讨厌。他们养鸡。这两件事是他们唯一的爱好。你也寻找鸡吗?”

"No," said the little prince. "I am looking for friends. What does that
mean—'tame'?"

“不，”小王子说道，“我是来找朋友的。‘驯养’是什么意思呢?

"It is an act too often neglected," said the fox. "It means to establish
ties ."

“它是经常被人们遗忘的一种行为，”狐狸答道，“它的意思是‘建立联系’。”

"To establish ties?"

“建立联系?”

"Just that," said the fox. "To me, you are still nothing more than a little
boy who is just like a hundred thousand other little boys. And I have no need of
you. And you, on your part, have no need of me. To you, I am nothing more than a
fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But if you tame me, then we shall need
each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be
unique in all the world..."

"I am beginning to understand," said the little prince. "There is a
flower... I think that she has tamed me..."

“我有点明白了，”小王子说，“我有一朵花……我想，她已经驯服了我……”

"It is possible," said the fox. "On the Earth one sees all sorts of things…
"

“这是可能的，”狐狸说，“在这个地球上，什么千奇百怪的事情都有可能发生……”

"My life is very monotonous ," the fox said. "I hunt chickens; men hunt me.
All the chickens are just alike, and all the men are just alike. And, in
consequence, I am a little bored. But if you tame me, it will be as if the sun
came to shine on my life. I shall know the sound of a step that will be
different from all the others. Other steps send me hurrying back underneath the
ground. Yours will call me, like music, out of my burrow . And then look: you
see the grain-fields down yonder ? I do not eat bread. Wheat is of no use to me.
The wheat fields have nothing to say to me. And that is sad. But you have hair
that is the colour of gold. Think how wonderful that will be when you have tamed
me! The grain, which is also golden, will bring me back the thought of you. And
I shall love to listen to the wind in the wheat... "

The fox gazed at the little prince, for a long time. "Please—tame me!" he
said.

狐狸盯着小王子看了很久。“请你……请你驯养我吧!”狐狸最后说道。

"I want to, very much," the little prince replied. "But I have not much
time. I have friends to discover, and a great many things to understand."

“我很想驯养你，”小王子回答道，“但是我没有那么多时间。我得去找朋友，还要去学习理解许多许多的事情。”

"One only understands the things that one tames," said the fox. "Men have
no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the
shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men
have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me... "

"You must be very patient," replied the fox. "First you will sit down at a
little distance from me—like that—in the grass. I shall look at you out of the
corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of
misunderstandings. But you will sit a little closer to me, every day... "

"It would have been better to come back at the same hour," said the fox.
"If, for example, you come at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three
o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour
advances. At four o’clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I
shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never
know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you... One must observe the
proper rites... "

"Those also are actions too often neglected," said the fox. "They are what
make one day different from other days, one hour from other hours. There is a
rite, for example, among my hunters. Every Thursday they dance with the village
girls. So Thursday is a wonderful day for me! I can take a walk as far as the
vineyards. But if the hunters danced at just any time, every day would be like
every other day, and I should never have any vacation at all."

The little prince went away, to look again at the roses. "You are not at
all like my rose," he said. "As yet you are nothing. No one has tamed you, and
you have tamed no one. You are like my fox when I first knew him. He was only a
fox like a hundred thousand other foxes. But I have made him my friend, and now
he is unique in all the world… "